The Importance of Glide

by Perfect SkatingSeptember 27, 2017

Glide, Why so Important?

Think of all the great skater’s that come to your mind. How about the speedy and efficient Victor Arvidsson of the Nashville Predators or the smooth almost floating #65 of the Ottawa Senators, how do they make it look so easy? The answer is Glide, and all great on-ice movers master it.

How does an effective Glide platform help my ability as a player? The first thing that comes to mind is movement efficiency. It’s so much easier to perform movements and movement patterns on the ice with glide maintaining momentum. The awesome result is a flow or fluidity of the actions of the mover. Player’s who maximize this return are often able to play more key minutes with much less effort and extend shifts far beyond the standardized NHL shift times. Think of the 5 NHL D-Men who worked +26 minutes a night in the 2016-2017 NHL season, Byfluglien, Doughty, Suter, Karlsson, Ristolainen, every one of them has a great glide platform.

Can Glide have an effect on my speed and make me faster? Absolutely, especially in races post 10 Foot Radius. Take a quick look at McDavid’s lap around the rink in January of this year at a racing 13.382 seconds, the fastest ever recorded from a stand still start. There’s lot’s going on here but I can’t help but notice that his Glide is just…well almost perfect!! It’s always tougher to pin point it at maximum velocity but based on our research the concept of Glide at all velocities maximizes movement efficiency and increases speed.

So how do we get this so-called Glide thing in our game? It’s a great question and for me it’s really the result of a harmonious relationship between the ability of synchronizing your weight shift over your base of support, stacking your joints and eccentrically loading your musculature. WOW! That easy eh Shawn? Simply it’s just proper weight shift timing and sinking into your body to be able to produce the maximum force of the next push. So where do I start, what type of on-ice work and off-ice work should I do? Like any acquired skill, Glide will need all of the necessary training tools to adapt and mold into one’s movement mapping. Get around a great coach that specializes in hockey performance, but specifically knows about Glide Platform and how to achieve it like our coaches in our Perfect Skating Program. Do your training on real ice as synthetics and treads are the worst to ensure proper movement mapping and be deliberate with a tremendous work ethic.

If you do this long enough, Glide can be your best friend and ensure that you are the next +26 minute D man on your team or maybe just maybe the first sub 13-second lap time in hockey history!